Trolley for the aerial collection of current for electric traction in general



L. VALLINO. TROLLEY FOR THE AERIAL COLLECTEON OF CURRENT FOR ELECTRIC TRACTION IN GENERAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5. 1920. r

' Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

@52 Ill ir 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, I LORENZO minute, or cuonoun, IVREA, ITALY.

TROLLEY FOR THE AERIAL COLLECTION. OF CURRENT FOR ELECTRIC TRACTION IN GENERAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 24:, 1922.

Application filed March 5, 1920. Serial No. 363,609.

T all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that .I, LORENZO VALLINO, a subject of the Kingof Italy, residing at (Juorgne, Ivrea, Province of Turin, Italy, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolleys for th Aerial Collection of Current for Electric Traction in General; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The present invention relates to a trolley for the aerial collection'of current for electric traction in general, as for instance for electric railways,.tramways, and in partic -ular for the so-called trac'kless electric trolley cars or electric automobiles which run on ordinary roads, as well as for electric tugs on navigable canals or rivers, electric tractors, and the-like.

The trolley according to the present invention can replace with advantage all the aerial current collecting devices from two line conductors now in use, of the type including bows, rollers, shoes or a travel-.

.'-the vehicle does not maintain a position which is invariable with respect to the line conductors.

According to the present invention the poles, bracketsetc. required on the lines in which theusual current collecting devices are used, a considerable saving (about 50%) is realized'in the cost of construction of the line. By the use of the new trolley,

which is electrically connected with the invention consists substantially of an H shaped frame of some insulating material, in each vertical arm of which are inserted on opposite sides two tubular casings insulated from each other, on which are mounted to slide axially in opposite directions the support members of two pairs of rollers intended to engage by the action of some elastic members with the two line conductors; the opposite rollers of one of these pairs of rollers bearing elastically upon the outside of the two line conductors, while those of the other pair bear elastically upon the inside of th two line conductors; the rollers bearing on opposite sides of the same line conductor being electrically connected with each other and with one of the two wires of the flexible cable destined to supply the current to the vehicle.

A practical construction of this trolley is shown by way of example in the accom panying drawing, in which :--Fig. 1 shows the trolley as a whole in vertical longitudinal section ;-Fig. 2 shows it'in side elevation at the timle of passing over a support ofthe line conductors ;-Fig. 3 shows it in plan partially in section :Fig. 4 shows the trolley suspended to the line placed horizontally ;Fig. 5 represents the equipment of the line in correspondence of a support, with the trolley as it passes over the support ;Fig. 6 shows the arrangement of the line and of the trolley in case the latter is made to run at a comparatively high speed.

The device consists of the frame made of some insulating material, in the she of an H. In each vertical arm of the ame are inserted, on opposite sides the two pairs of tubular casings, preferably metallic, 1.1 and 1.1 of a convenient length, the two casings of each pair beinginsulated from each other. Inside the two casings of each pair there are mounted to slide axially the tubes, 2.2 and 2'2 respectively, bearing at their ends the pins 3.3 and 3'3 respectively, which issue freely through the guide slots 5.5 of thecorresponding guide casin 1.1 and support the groove rollers 4.4 an 4'4,

which grooves, instead of having straight sides,.as is usually the case, have sides which areslightly concave (see F ig, 2) with the object of better retaining the line conductors. The tubes '2, by means of a spiral spring 6 acting against a-socket 7 connect ed with a rod'8 fixed at the bottom of the corresponding casing 1 and reacting against the ring 9 fastened to the base of each tube 2, are drawn inside of the corresponding casings 1 and thus the rollers '4 are made to bear elastically from the outside against the 'two line conductors 10. The tubes 2, on'the' other hand, are pushed, by -means of a spring 6' acting against a'socket' 7 placed at the bottom of the case 1 and reacting'against another socket 8 placed at the bottom of the corresponding tube 2,

out of the corresponding casing, and thus the rollers 4 are made to bear elastically from the inside against-the two line conductors 10. The casings 1' andl are pref- "erably closed at their ends by the covers 11- and 11' in such a way that the inner sliding tubes and the corresponding springs which control them are protected from external agencies. V

The rollers 4.4 which bear upon the same line conductors 10 are electrically connected with each other by the cables 12.12 which rest upon the frame -0-- and the terminals of which are electrically connected with the corresponding casings 1.1, or rather are connected to suitable brushes which collect the current from the rollers, these brushes being fixed, for instance, to the support pin of the corresponding'roller. The cables 12.12 are i "then connected separately with the corresponding wires of the flexible'cable 13, which carriesthe current to the vehicle and at the same time serves to pull the trolley; this cable l3 is connected with the vehicle by an ordinary counterweight device in such away'as to allow of its automatic extension and shortenlng.

The trolley described above is destined to run usually in a vertical position as shown 7 in Figs. '1 and 2, upon two line "conductors in the bearer 17, of wood or other insulatingmaterial, which is intended to be connected by-stout screws 18 to the pole '14.

Although the trolley described} above is intended chiefly to run vertically as shown in Figs. 1, 2, it can run equally well upon a line placed in a horizontal posit on, as shown 'in Fig. 4 an arrangement which maybe necessary for instance, in passing through inhabited districts or ingeneral in all cases in which it is not possible to place supports at the side of the road.

Owing to the special arrangement described above, the trolley, bearing through its rollers on four different points, twointernal and two externahof the line conductors 10, is effectually supported in such a manneras to secure perfect balance, as the pressure exerted by the pair of rollers 4.4 is constantly balanced by the'pressure exerted in the opposite direction by the pair of rollers-4.4. Again, the contact with each line wire is effectually realized as each line conductor is engaged at opposite sides for a 'short space by two rollers 4.4 which bear elastically upon it. Finally, as the rollers 4.4, and 4.'4 of each pair are-capable of moving elastically in opposite directions for a considerable amplitude, it follows that this trolley is always well adjusted to the two line conductors,-.whatever its mode of progress may be, however irregular or beset byobstacles, and whatever maybe the distance between the twoline conductors. In particular th'e passage of this trolley over the supports (see Figs.2 and 5) is accomplished gradually without effort andewithout shock, being aided by the two slightly divergent wires 10 provided in correspondence-of the supports. I

the groove of the rollers, it is'absolutely impossible for this trolley to jump off the wire.

in case of the breaking of the springs 6.6, to the support pin of each roller there'is fixed a hook 19.19 and 19".19 (see Fig. '2), which bears upon the corresponding line conductor as soon as the spring which-con For all these reasons asw'ell as on account of the speclal form as describedabove of To prevent the trolley'from'jumping down 'trolsthe opposites rollers ceases to exert its action. These hook'smay be advanta geously replaced during the winter season by elastic blades leaning on the'line conductor for the purpose 'of sweepi'ng away the snow and ice. v

Inramy weather, to prevent short ClIOllltS between the-line-conductors in consequence of contact between the fan-shaped jets of water caused by the edges" of therollers of different polarity, especially the inside ones '4.4', the horizontal portion of the frame -0 is "provided-with two longitudinal projections 20,=made of some insulating mate-9 rial, against which the jets of' water are arrested or broken; 1 In general the trolley is arranged on the aerial line asshownin Fig. 2, in such a man-'- nor that the pull strain of the cable 13 which draws it makes the line conductors bear against the shorter shoulder of the roller the one, namely, which is next the edge of the roller having a smaller diameter in order to permit of the passage of the trolley over the supports of the line. It is evident, however, that with the purpose of attaining a greater security for the hold of the trolley, even when travelling at high speed, the application of the trolley to the line may be inverted, as shown in-Fig. 6, in which case the line conductors, under the strain of the cable 13 placed on the opposite side, are made to bear upon the longer shoulder of the groove of each roller; the protecting projections must in this case be sufliciently divergent or prolonged to answer the purpose of preventing any contact of the cable 13 with the rollers. For the application shown in Fig. 6, the attachment of the supports 15 of the line conductors must of course also be inverted, which can be done, for instance, by fixing them inside a stirrup 21 connected with the bearer 17 fixed to the pole 14.

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited in any way to the precise a-rrangements as described and shown, and that without departing from the nature of the invention as specified in the following claims, it may be employed in any way that may be considered to be necessary or advantageous to suit the requirements or the circumstances of practical work.

I claim:

1. A trolley for the aerial collection of our- 7 rent for electric traction in general or the like, characterized by :-frame of some insulating material in the shape of an H, on each vertical arm of which are inserted from opposite sides two tubular-casings insulated from each other, inside of which are mounted to slide axially in opposite directions the supporting members of two pairs of rollers intended to engage, under the action of some elastic members, with the two line conductors arranged preferably parallel in a vertical plane and connected withthe supports of the line by means of two slightly diverging wires ,the opposite rollers of one of these pairs of rollers bearing elastically upon the outside of the two line conductors, while the opposite rollers of the other pair bear elastically on the inside of the two line conductors; the rollers bearing from opposite sides of the same line conductor being electrically connected with each other and to one of the two wires of the flexible cable destined to supply the current to the vehicle.

2. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 characterized by the use of rollers with shoulders slightly concave, in order of better retaining the line conductors.

3. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 characterized by longitudinal projections of some insulating material connected with the frame and which may be divergent, destined to stop the fan-shaped jets of water caused in rainy weather by the rollers of diiferent polarities, in order to prevent possible short circuits between the line conductors, these projections serving further to prevent the possibility of contact between the flexible cable and the rollers.

4. A'trolley as claimed in claim 1 characterized by members connected with the supporting pins of the rollers intended to engage with the line conductors, thus avoiding the jumping off of the trolley in case of the breaking of the elastic members of control of the rollers.

5. In combination with two line conductors, of two pairs of contact rollers, and means yieldingly supporting said rollers whereby the opposite rollers of one pair bear upon the outside of the two line conductors while the rollers of the other pair bear on the inside of said conductors.

6. In combination with two line conductors, of two pairs of contact rollers, and means yieldingly supporting said rollers whereby the opposite rollers of one pair bear upon the outside of the two line conductors while the roller of the other pair bear on the inside of said conductors, and means for electrically connecting together the rollers bearing from opposite sides of the same conductor and means connecting the last named rollers to one of the two wires of a supply conductor.

7. In combination with two parallel line conductors of a frame of insulating material, two pairs of supports mounted in the frame. springs arranged to slide the supports in opposite directions, and rollers carried by the supports. the opposite rollers of one pair bearing elastically upon the outside of the two line conductors while the opposite rollers of the other pair bear elastically on the inside of said conductors.

8. In combination with two parallel line conductors of a frame of insulating material, two pairs of supports mounted in the frame, springs arranged to slide the supports in opposite directions, and rollers carried by the supports, the opposite rollers of one pair bearing elastically upon the outside of the two line conductors while the opposite rollers of the other pair bear elastically on the inside of said conductors, and means for electrically connecting together the rollers bearing from opposite sides of the same conductor, and means connecting the last named rollers to one of the two wires of a supply conductor.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name.

LORENZO VALLINO. 

